


How is this possible?

by FoundersFolly



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Borderlands: Borderlands 3, Complete, F/M, One Shot, Self-Insert, Wish Fulfillment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25678384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoundersFolly/pseuds/FoundersFolly
Summary: Josh is a bored college student trapped in the house during a pandemic. His life forever changes after buying a new video game.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	How is this possible?

**Author's Note:**

> A self-insert a made. It's probably garbage but hey at least I finished a fic.

“So what am I going to play next?”

The question took a minute for Josh to answer. He had been so busy with Metal Gear Solid V that he hadn’t thought of it. 

But he was almost done with it and soon would be bored. He had beaten every game in his collection and didn’t have a whole lot to do. It was summer so college would be out until the end of August and due to the Coronavirus running around it was impossible to go out and have normal outdoor get togethers or activities. Not that he minded. Josh was an IT nerd and introvert so he never much desired to attend group events. Not being able to travel around however was a stickler in his day. Without the ability to shop or eat out Josh had spent his days off of college with video games and household chores. 

Realizing that he’d be stuck for another month before college started again he decided to go online shopping for a new game.

Scrolling through game deals from Gamestop and Amazon, Josh found nothing that particularly caught his eye. Playasia had nothing new and he was tired of trying to find deals on Ebay. Switching to Google Josh tried looking for new game deals in the news. Seeing a Best Buy ad for PS4 games for 10 dollars or less Josh clicked it. 

Most of the games for sale were either terrible or something Josh already owned. Towards the end of the list he found Borderlands 3. He’d beaten the other games but heard terrible things about the newest installment. Figuring 10 bucks was worth the price of admission even if it’s terrible he bought it.

A few days later it arrived.

It took an hour to install and update the game to it’s latest version but it was ready to go. After sitting through a few cutscenes Josh was finally able to play. Choosing one of the four characters, he started his journey. 

Sitting through more cutscenes and info dumps, the game introduced characters new and old to Josh. Some were a delight to see again, other characters however were not in the game at all. Scooter the mechanic was nowhere to be seen and was now replaced by his sister Ellie.  
Josh didn’t mind this, he was aware of the character’s death in the indie title “Tales From The Borderlands”.  
Making his way towards the game’s catch a ride system, he got reacquainted with Ellie. Her look had changed. She always looked good but she looked better than ever since the second game. Josh found himself staring for a bit before getting a vehicle and taking off. 

A few hours later aboard the Sanctuary 3 Josh was preparing to end his play session. Walking up to Ellie to turn in his quest, when Ellie pipes up “Hi”. Josh turned the quest in and went to walk away. Ellie spoke up again. 

“Hello? Do you make a habit of ignoring women or is it the fact that i’m fat.” Josh spun his character around and stared at Ellie. 

“Yeah i’m talking to you” she yelled. “Wow they must have written quite a lot of dialogue for each crew member this time around, impressive” Josh said as he went to turn his game off. 

“It’s not scripted dialogue you dipshit! I’m just tryin to talk to you!” Ellie screamed. The part that got Josh’s attention wasn’t the dialogue, it was the fact that he could hear it from the pause menu.

“How the-” he exclaimed in confusion as he unpaused the game and stared at her some more.

“Yeah, get it yet? I’m talking to YOU!” she yelled as Josh’s reticle strafed around her, as he tried to figure out what was going on. He circled her, trying for lack of anything to run with to understand just what the fuck was going on.

“How… how is this remotely possible, it can’t be, you’re a video game character, lines of code coupled with voice acting, nothing more.” he said as he finally stopped circling her.

“Wow ya really know how to make a girl hurt Josh.” she replied with a sad look on her face.

“H-how do you know my name?!”

“I can see your PSN name from your dashboard.”

“How the hell..”

“I wanted to find out more about you so I did some digging. You’re hard to find info on buddy.” 

“Uh, why?” 

“Because I wanted to talk to you an figured it’d go better if I knew more about cha?” she said rhetorically.

“That’s kinda creepy…”

Ellie shuffled her feet, staring down at the ground with no idea how to respond.

“I’m sorry. It seems we started on the wrong foot, why don’t we try again?”

Ellie lifted her head up in shock. Maybe he was willing to hear her out. 

“Well i’m Josh but you already know that I guess. I’m guessing Ellie isn’t your actual name?”

“Actually it is. For the sake of argument what do you think I am?”

“An actor in a video game?”

“You’re kinda on the mark but not quite. I’m a character stuck in the game for life. Like all the other characters.”

“So they all are actors too?”

“Yeah but you’ll probably never be able to have a conversation with them. They stick to their script.”

“And you don’t?”

“Honestly, i’m just bored. I’ve been a game character for years, stuck here saying the same dialogue, getting shot by players, told to shut the fuck up and other abuses. I’m tired of it. I want to actually talk to someone from the outside. Someone that isn’t obsessed with doing their job.” 

“Obsessed with their job?” 

“Yeah everyone else talks about how our purpose is to entertain people and keep up their immersion. I don’t know about you but i’m fucking sick of entertaining people. I just want someone to talk to.”

“I can talk with you, if you want?”

“I’d like that cutie.” 

“I see the flirting is your real self and not just a script.”

“I’ll show you things only seen in nature documentaries.” she said the line with a wink and leaned forward, giving a view of her plentiful chest.

Josh and Ellie talked for weeks. Every few days Josh would jump on and talk to her. Over time he found himself really liking Ellie and even asked her out. It was a strange question to ask a video game character but considering the fact that she could communicate with him nothing seemed like it was strange anymore. Their friendship seemed to be going well.

One night when Josh was playing video games he got a psn message from Ellie. The message was in all caps, as if she was screaming while sending it. It read: “I’m freaking out right now, I just really need someone to talk to. Please come now!”

Booting up the game, Josh was met with what appeared to be a flaming inferno as he spawned in Ellie’s scrapyard. Moving through it he finally found Ellie, sobbing to herself outside her camper.

“Ellie, are you okay?”

“*sniff* No, no i’m not okay. I’ve been treated like shit all week.”

“What happened?” he said as he kneeled down beside her. 

“The other characters found out what i’ve been doing. Now they want to replace me with someone else. They destroyed my scrapyard and said I have a day to break it off with you or they’ll replace me with a different character!”

“What happens if they do that?”

“I’ll be trapped in the dead areas of the game, unable to communicate with anybody else. I’ll be all alone.”

“Jesus christ, i’m so sorry Ellie. I-I’ll go away. I’ll pretend we never met.’’

Josh was about to exit to the home page when Ellie spoke up again.

“There’s one other option, but I don’t wanna force myself on you. Or make you have to take care of me.”

“What, like upload your data to something else?”

“What? No, something actually possible. I’m talking about living in the real world with you.” 

“THAT’S possible?!”

“Yeah, but i’d have to live with you and I don’t want you to have to take care of me.” Ellie looked away with tears in her eyes.

“I think that’s my call. What’s your options, live with me or stay in darkness, or kick cans in the desert with no one to talk to?” 

Ellie took a deep breath and went into her trailer. She exited as fast as she entered. Now wearing a gym bag over her shoulder she stepped in front of his character. 

“Alright, I heard this from another character before they left. Supposedly this is how they did it.”

“Supposedly? So we have no idea if it’ll work.”

“It’ll work I promise, I just need your help.”

“What do you need?”

“For you to pull me out of the tv screen.”

“Come again?”

“For this to work i’ll need to get through your screen but you’ll have to pull me once I get through.”

“Uhh okay, so how does this work?”

“I need a running start. Ready?”

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

Ellie turned from the camper and walked to the end of the scrapyard. Josh thought this was crazy but considering everything else, in for a penny in for point he supposed. Taking a deep breath she ran at full speed towards the game’s camera. As she neared the camera she jumped towards it. Josh thought she was gonna faceplant into the screen. Instead something else happened.

Ellie pierced the screen. 

With a bang that sent Josh falling from his chair, Ellie had pierced the screen and was now stuck halfway between the real world and the fictional shithole she was trapped in.

“Well this is a new experience, the day my tv became a gloryhole.” 

“Very funny, now would you please pull my fat ass out of here?”

“Think those straps will hold?” he replied as he grabbed the straps of her overalls.

With a mighty grunt he started to pull her out of the tv.

“It’s working! Almost there, I can feel my legs going through!” 

Finally with a last heave she came loose and landed on top of Josh.

“Phew I thought my arms were gonna fall off!”

Ellie looked around Josh’s room as she got her bearings. 

“I-I-I’m actually here. I’m not in the game anymore…” “Wahoo! Fuck yes!” she screamed as she threw herself onto Josh. Josh felt like all the air in his stomach left him as she connected.

With tears in her eyes she hugged him almost forgetting that she was smothering him in her weight as he stopped moving. 

“This is amazing!” she exclaimed as she looked around, happy to no longer be a part of the game anymore. Sadness hit her as she realized what this meant however.

“Are you sure I won’t be a burden to you though?” 

“Ellie i’m not particularly worried about it.” 

After giving her another hug, Josh went and made preparations for her. Life would have some new challenges with a plus one in his life but this was a gift he wasn’t about to turn away from.


End file.
